Disclaimer: "Lead your life so you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." --Will Rogers
Dedication: To Chibi and my other reviewers. All three of you.
Okay, I know it's been a while, but this coordinating business is tough. Anyway, here's the next chapter!
Chapter Thirteen: Everybody's Different
The morning of the big dance brought nothing short of chaos to the ladies of Alfea and Cloud Tower. Everyone was in a mad rush to find the perfect shoes or hair-do to go with the dress. The only one who wasn't worried about that was Raven, but she was being pinholed for something else.
"Come on, Raver, it would be so cool if you would sing!" Ryder said.
"No!" Raven shouted. "I am not going to sing! I hate performing, you know that."
"You don't have to give us a concert." Ryder said. "Just one or two songs. I would help, but we both know how tone deaf I am."
"I won't do it!" the younger witch shouted. "End of discussion."
"But the headmistresses asked me to ask you to do this!" The red-head folded her arms. "Are you going to turn them down? And what about your rep? You know, the whole music witch thing? Not much good if you never do anything but argue with teachers is it?"
"What are you getting at?" Raven hissed.
"I think you're afraid." Ryder said. "Now either you're scared of what people think or you don't think you'll ever be as good as Musa. But as much as you deny it, guess what, it's a part of you! You are the Music Witch!"
"I'm not scared!" Raven shouted. "I can do ten times better than my mom ever could!"
"Then prove it!" Ryder said. "Go on stage and sing!"
"Fine!" The raven-haired freshman shouted. "I'll do it!"
"Thank you!" Ryder said. "Now go get ready for the dance. We don't have much time."
At Red Fountain, Marilee and Lorelei were putting the finishing touches on their hair and makeup when someone knocked on the door.
"We're decent." Marilee said. "Who is it?"
"The guys want to know when you'll be ready to go." Will asked. "Oh Gods! Lori, what are you wearing?"
"It's a dress, silly." Lori said. "And we're just about done."
"I demand that you put something else on!" Will said.
"Will, I bought this dress to wear it, not to have it hang in the closet for a century or two!" Lori said.
"What is the commotion about?" Ian asked as he walked to the doorway. "Lori! You can't go out in that!"
"Yes, I can." Lori said. "Ian, I'm not ten any more! I can take care of myself!"
"That's what I'm worried about." Ian said. "Wearing something like that is just asking for…"
"Oh, for the love of Domino, I do not have a boyfriend and definitely do not have any desires like that!" Lori shouted. "Would my parents have let me live here if I did?"
"She has a point." Marilee said. "Just relax! We will be ladies this evening."
"That's right." Lori said. "We can behave like girls for one night."
"Fine!" Ian groaned. "You can wear it! Just bring a cloak, or a shawl or something to wear over it in case it gets cold."
"Deal." Lori said. "Thank you."
"I'm never gonna get used to this." Ian grumbled as he walked away.
Some twenty minutes later at Alfea, the girls from the schools (and Jason and Talone) were gathered in the courtyard awaiting the arrival of the Red Fountain students. When they got there however, some of the boys were in an uproar.
"They let you leave the school in that?" Adon and Austin shouted when they saw their sister's outfit.
"This one is tame." Amethyst said. "You should see what they let some of the seniors wear!"
"Mom's gonna throw a fit." Adon said.
"Mom's not going to find out." Felicity said. "Look, I like the dress, and it fits, can we leave it at that? Besides, it's not any worse than what Lori's got on."
"I still don't know how she talked Ian into letting her leave in that." Austin said.
"Neither does Jason, from the look of it." Amy giggled as Jase argued with his sister. "How cute, he's worried."
"He shouldn't be though." Felicity said. "And neither should you two! I may be the younger sister, but I'm old enough to pick out my own wardrobe. Can't you just trust that I'm mature enough to know what I'm doing?"
"I guess." Adon said. "But that doesn't mean I approve."
"You don't' have to." Fee said.
"Hey! Guys!" Ailani said as she bounded over with Twi.
"Whoa! Where's the fire?" Amy asked.
"Backstage." Twila said. "Ryder's trying to get Rusa on stage, but it's not working."
"And Raver promised she would sing!" Ailani said. "You're the oldest! Go help!"
"Go tell it to Riven!" Amy pointed. "He's their dad, let him handle it!"
"Okay!" Twi chirped and the two were off again.
"Sucks being in charge, don't it?" Ian asked as he walked up.
"You can say that again." Amy said as some music played in the background. "Well, normally, they would go tell Ryder, but she's the one in the middle of it this time and none of the fairies care."
"Sounds like fun." Ian quipped. "So, do you wanna dance?"
"Why not?" Amy shrugged. She took the senior Specialist's hand and let him lead her onto the floor.
"Go sis!" Amber cheered.
"Not so loud!" Talone said. "People will hear you two nuts!"
"Who cares?" Lapis shrugged. "Good goin' Amy!"
"Welcome to my world." Onyx said wryly.
"I feel your pain, cousin." Talone groaned.
Backstage, the two Iacono sisters were having a low-grade war.
"You promised." Ryder growled.
"We're witches!" Raven said. "We say stuff all the time and never mean it!"
"You've been listening to those seniors too much!" Ryder said.
"And what about you?" Raven asked. "Lying about your mom just so you could get into school!"
"That was different!" Ryder protested!
"How?" Raven asked. "The headmasters knew all about you! It wasn't like you were gonna fool anyone!"
"You don't have any idea what its like to be judged like that!" Ryder said. "To have people look at you or spit on you and not know why other than what your parents did!"
"Oh yeah! I just love being called a pixie all the time!" Raven said.
"Girls! Stop it!" Riven shouted as he walked onto the scene.
"But out!" Raven shouted.
"Raven Musa, you take that back!" Ryder shouted.
"No!" Raven protested.
"Quiet!" Riven shouted above the girls screams. The two looked at each other, then at their father, then at the floor. "There. That's better. Now will one of you tell me what the hells is going on here?"
"Raven said she would sing here this afternoon." Ryder said. "But now she wants to back out."
"I only said yes so you would leave me alone!" Raven growled.
"Raven, that's enough!" Riven admonished. "Now, did you tell your sister and your teacher that you would sing for us tonight?"
"Yes." Raven said. "But they…"
"That's not the point." Riven said. "You told them that you would perform, and you are going to do it if I have to drag you out there myself."
"Like I told you this afternoon, you only need to do one or two songs, and they don't have to be back to back." Ryder said. "Just get on stage, please?"
"Fine!" Raven shouted. "I'm going!"
"I think it's a new record." Ryder said as the raven-haired witch ascended the stairs. "It only took four hours to talk her into it this time."
"Yeah." Riven sighed. "Its at moments like this that I'm thankful I never had sons. One would be worse than the both of you put together!"
"So are the rest of us." Ryder said. "Now let's go watch." Riven nodded and the two walked back to the front of the stage.
"Is it clear yet?" Natalia asked as her cousin stuck her head around the curtains.
"It's clear." Destiny said. "Now let's move before we get caught."
"On to the gift boxes!" Natalia said. "This is so wicked!"
"And better yet, those witches will never know what hit them!" Malise said as she and the others rounded the next corner.
"Don't be too sure." Vina said as she and the witches watched from the shadows.
"We're the ones who will be ruling this realm." Ronnie said. "And no self-righteous pixies are going to stand in our way!"